The Failure of Our Fathers: Family\, G ender\, and Power in Confederate Alabama \;examines the changing position of non-elite white families in Alabama during one of the most piv otal periods in the state&rsquo\;s history. Drawing on a wide range of per sonal and public documents reflecting the state&rsquo\;s varied regions an d economies\, Victoria E. Ott uses gender and family as a lens to examine the poor white families who identified with the Confederate cause.
\nOtt provides a nuanced examination of how these Alabamians fit within the antebellum era&rsquo\;s paternalistic social order\, eventually identifyi ng with\, and supporting\, the Confederate mission to leave the Union and create an independent\, slaveholding state. But as the reality of the war slowly set in and the Confederacy began to fray\, the increasing dangers f amilies faced led Alabama&rsquo\;s common white men and women to find new avenues to power as a distinct socioeconomic class.
\nOtt argues tha t family provided the conceptual framework necessary to understand why com mon whites supported a war to protect slavery despite having little or no investment in the institution. Going to war meant protecting their familie s from outsiders who threatened to turn their worlds upside down. Despite class differences\, common whites envisioned the Confederacy as a larger f amily and the state as paternal figures who promised to protect its loyal dependents throughout the conflict. Yet\, as the war ravaged many Alabama communities\, devotion to the Confederacy seemed less a priority as famili es faced continued separations\, threats of death\, and the potential for starvation. The construct of a familial structure that once created a sens e of loyalty to the Confederacy now gave them cause to question its leader ship. Ott shows how these domestic values rooted in highly gendered concep ts ultimately redefined Alabama&rsquo\;s social structure and increased cl ass distinctions after the war.
\nVictoria E. Ott \;is the James
A. Woods Professor of American History at Birmingham-Southern College. Sh
e is author of \;Confederate Daughters: Coming of Age during the C
ivil War.
\;
&ldquo\;Victoria Ott offers a fresh look
at the Civil War by exploring how common soldiers and their families aband
oned the Confederate cause without forsaking the values of slavery and rac
ial supremacy. It is a major contribution to the understanding of gender a
nd class in the last days of the doomed Confederacy.&rdquo\;
&mdash\;
Michael W. Fitzgerald\, author of \;Splendid Failure: Postwar Reco
nstruction in the American South
\;
&ldquo\;The Failur
e of Our Fathers \;shows the centrality of family for understanding th
e experiences of common whites in Alabama during the Confederate era. Here
the voices of ordinary men and women reveal both the persistence and angu
ish of families in the midst of war and ruin. Through the use of a wide ra
nge of both private and official sources&mdash\;including diaries\, letter
s\, court records\, and divorce petitions&mdash\;Ott documents the often w
renching experiences of these Alabama families. The tensions between the d
emands of loyalty to family and loyalty to the Confederacy play out amid c
hanging family dynamics\, the travails of military life\, enduring religio
us faith\, and the failures of both the state and Confederate governments.
&rdquo\;
&mdash\;George C. Rable\, University of Alabama\, Emeritus a
nd author of \;Damn Yankees! Demonization and Defiance in the Conf
ederate South
&ldquo\;Victoria Ott locates the family and its
pervasive gender roles at the heart of non-elite white Alabamians&rsquo\;
Confederate experience\, from the masculine rush to enlist in 1861 to the
widespread disillusionment and class resentments of the war&rsquo\;s fina
l years. Deftly continuing the story into Reconstruction\, Ott identifies
an abiding class consciousness that helps explain much about the state&rsq
uo\;s tumultuous postwar history. This is a significant achievement that w
ill enrich both Alabama and Civil War scholars.&rdquo\;
&mdash\;Kenne
th W. Noe\, author of \;The Howling Storm: Climate\, Weather\, and
the American Civil War
For more information\, contact Holley at 205-445-1117 or hwesley@oneallibrary.org.
\n\;
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